Private bus owners brush off painting decision

Our members run 17,000 private buses under much difficulty as fuel and spare parts prices and maintenance costs have gone up sharply.

The government’s decision to direct private bus operators to paint their buses in blue and private school buses and van operators to paint their vehicles in yellow from next year was vehemently rejected by private bus and van owners yesterday. The President of the largest private bus operators union, Gemunu Wijeratne dismissing the idea said the Motor Traffic Act does not provide for such provision and added the government’s decision could not be implemented at provincial level as cabinet decisions did not apply to Provincial Councils.

“Our members run 17,000 private buses under much difficulty as fuel and spare parts prices and maintenance costs have gone up sharply. Therefore, asking them to paint their buses will be an added burden to them,” Mr. Wijeratne said.

He added that if the government wanted to go ahead with this decision it had to be approved by Parliament. The private bus operators were not ready to spend an extra cost to paint their buses on top of their daily expenses, he added.

All Ceylon Private Bus Companies Organization’s President Anjana Priyanjith making similar comments said if the government wanted to paint private buses afresh that must be done by a government institution or the SLTB free of charge without burdening private bus operators.

“Who wants buses to be painted afresh? We did not ask the Transport Ministry to do it, neither did the Transport Ministry ask us before this decision either. Therefore, we are not ready to paint our buses at an extra cost.